Drafting and overtaking strategy

Drafting is a fundamental energy-saving strategy in cycling, widely utilized in both indoor and outdoor competition. Using high-fidelity computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations, we investigated the aerodynamic interaction between cyclists traveling at a racing speed of 63 km/h. This study parametrically evaluated drafting and overtaking positions by systematically varying separation distance and lateral displacement. Our results show that drag on the drafting rider can be reduced by up to 33%, with aerodynamic forces being more sensitive to changes in lateral displacement than to separation distance. Notably, drag reduction becomes negligible once lateral displacement exceeds approximately one body width. However, significant aerodynamic benefits remain achievable even at large separation distances. These insights directly support the selection of optimal drafting positions for energy conservation and the development of efficient overtaking trajectories.

Details refer to:

S. Cantos, K. P. Mok, P. Zhou, H. Jiang, X. Mao, S. Zhong, and X. Zhang, “A numerical study of cyclist-cyclist aerodynamic interaction towards efficient overtaking strategy,” Journal of Fluids Engineering, vol. 146, no. 021202, pp. 1–12, 2024.